[rescue] Career Rescue (was DEC Pro 350, or something)

[James Lockwood]

On Mon, 8 Oct 2001, Derrick Daugherty wrote:

> I've heard of some _insane_ rates in the bay area in the "before time".
> An aquintance of mine, moderately knowledgable, about 20-23 yrs old,
> working for cisco was in the six figures.  Ridiculous.  He is a junior
> admin at best.

Rates have been ludicrous around the bay for a long time.  They're still
not in line with reality, IMHO.  Six figures for a jr/mid level admin in
silly valley did seem normal not long ago.  Wish I'd managed to save more
from those "golden years", a good amount of it was tied up in tech stocks.
:-/

I got sick of "California culture".  I've been in the trenches for 10
years, it's time for someone younger with a more serious devotion to
caffeine to step into the roles I occupied.  I'm now looking to buy a huge
house on acreage in a gorgeous part of the country for about the same
price as a permanent parking spot in San Francisco.

You can always turn time into money, but you can't always turn money into
time.  Looking back on the past few years it seems absurd for me to have
poured my life into work, making huge salaries which were almost
immediately bled out of me by the high cost of living and brutal commutes.
If you don't have time to enjoy life, what's the point?

> I've toyed _several_ times with the idea of creating some competition
> for TAOS.. I know sooo many clued people, that are not challenged.. but
> I know zero HR-types that would want to do it.

Tricky, especially with the current climate.  Even TAOS is having a tough
time, and they have an established client base and name.  I'd gladly
consult for reasonable money if the work could be found, but lately it
seems like it takes 3 hours of effort for every hour of actual work
scrounged up.

-James